often angry. always gen x.

my other bookmobile is a donkey. biblioburro!

What a fantastic story. The New York Times chronicles a labour of love.

LA GLORIA, Colombia — In a ritual repeated nearly every weekend for the past decade here in Colombia’s war-weary Caribbean hinterland, Luis Soriano gathered his two donkeys, Alfa and Beto, in front of his home on a recent Saturday afternoon.

Sweating already under the unforgiving sun, he strapped pouches with the word “Biblioburro” painted in blue letters to the donkeys’ backs and loaded them with an eclectic cargo of books destined for people living in the small villages beyond.

His choices included “Anaconda,” the animal fable by the Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga that evokes Kipling’s “Jungle Book”; some Time-Life picture books (on Scandinavia, Japan and the Antilles); and the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language.

“I started out with 70 books, and now I have a collection of more than 4,800,” said Mr. Soriano, 36, a primary school teacher who lives in a small house here with his wife and three children, with books piled to the ceilings.

UPDATE: Mr. Romero was kind enough to answer my email enquiry about donating to the cause. Here is his response:

I’ve received a lot of queries from readers interested in helping Luis Soriano. In contacting him again, he said that one option for his Biblioburro project to receive funds is through Western Union, through its office in Santa Marta. To do so, his Colombian identity number is 77 032.302.

Another option may be sending money through his bank, Banco Bancolombia, which has offices in New York and Washington. Apparently this bank can transfer funds to him in Colombia, to his account number of 513-094775-06.

However, before sending the funds I would recommend contacting Luis directly at Colombia mobile 571 311 573 2019, or through eldoctosoriano@hotmail.com .

If you are interested in sending books to Luis, please contact him by phone or e-mail first to determine how to get the books to him. Please remember that Luis speaks limited English.

Hi folks, that was one of my first questions too, when I read the Times article; you’d think they’d have anticipated a deluge of willing donors. On an initial google search this morning I didn’t find any donation info, but I will resume the hunt later. Hopefully in the meantime the NYT will update the article with a donation link. If I find one, I’ll be sure to add it here.